1. PROJECT INTRODUCTION
The Festival is a documentary exploring the delicate complexities of parent-child relationships during Vietnam’s Lunar New Year celebrations. Set over three days of festivities, the story focuses on an elderly couple grappling with the absence of their sons — whom they view as the family’s backbone — and the presence of their daughters, often dismissed as “gifts” to their in-laws.
Rather than taking a traditional documentary approach, The Festival embraces a poetic, visual storytelling style. Its imagery and dialogue are layered with symbolism, encouraging viewers to read between the lines and uncover the characters’ essence not through their actions, but through their silences.
At the heart of the film are the grandparents of the director, Jay. Seeing them only once a year, Jay has never been privy to the family’s deeper stories. This project becomes his personal journey of discovery and reconciliation — a window into Vietnamese culture for both him and a global audience unfamiliar with its rich, nuanced traditions, often overshadowed by reductive portrayals in war narratives.
The Festival is Jay’s graduation project, created as part of the Audiovisual Media curriculum (2023–2025) at the Baltic Film, Media & Arts School, Tallinn University. Your support will help bring this deeply personal and culturally significant story to life.
2. THEME & SUBJECTS
The lenses through which we will be examining the characters and their interactions:
Click HERE to see some of our early-development materials.
3. REFERENCES
Our filmmaking approach is partly inspired by fiction films which are documentary-esque in the ways they explore the human condition and highlight the beauty of the mundane.
4. BUDGET BREAKDOWN
What we need your financial supports for:
5. OUR CREW
Our small crew consists of the most dedicated members who have also been working on professional sets outside of school projects. We have the technical skills and life experiences necessary for bringing this production to its fullest potential possible.
Producer, Writer-Director & Editor: Jay Ngo
Cinematographer: Otto Färm
Sound Designer: Vincent Roy
Colourist: Kasperi Leppänen
Graphic Designer: Huy Phung
Production Assistants: Olivers Keiss, Duong Nguyen
Thesis Supervisors: Marianna Kaat & Mart Raun
